Posted by resident
a resident of Castro City
on Jul 21, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Whatever happened to a hiring process that seeks to attract the most qualified individuals? It's as if the superintendent thinks he's got a special gift or sixth sense for picking leaders the way he babbles all the time. This guy is all about stuffing his own cronies into positions, and then, given that he's an idiot, everyone wonders why principals come and go. It's really that simple.

Posted by eric
a resident of another community
on Jul 21, 2008 at 9:41 pm

So, your counter is to point out a typo and to toss out my favorite message board chestnut-- 'you must be an insider, you must really be so-and-so'. Both excellent substitutes for any valid knowledge. Or intellect...

Posted by eric
a resident of another community
on Jul 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm

I have no opinion. I dont know all the facts. Niether do you.

If a principal isnt working out, they should go (I dont know if this was the case here-- did he leave for a better position? Was he squeezed out?). Hiring of staff is the job of the people at the top of an organization. Hiring with input from a huge group with disparate interests is impractical. Employees dont get to pick their boss.

Oh, and the school board does meet during the summer, so I guess you're not terribly involved in the district.

Posted by resident
a resident of another community
on Jul 22, 2008 at 9:11 pm

For someone who has no opinion, eric certainly writes like he's got it all figured out so I would agree he's a district troll. Just read the dribble of rationales he gives. Hiring of staff for public school positions, or any public job for that matter, should be opened up to the entire qualified community and the school community should have a hand in the process. A timeline and hiring process should have been set in chosing this principal. Believe it or not eric, this is how really succesful schools operate. Openiings should be posted far and wide and a fair and objective hiring process should be followed. That, eric, is how people at the top of a public organization should act. But this superintendent lately does nothing but appoint people like a petty dictator and couches it all in phrases like, "it just makes sense". Really? I doubt it. What could have been? We'll never know. Meanwhile, this city is stuck with under-performing schools in comparison to the rest of the area while administrators playing musical chairs or are pulled out of a hat. I dread to think how this district hires teachers.

Posted by eric
a resident of another community
on Jul 22, 2008 at 10:38 pm

My opinion is that you are uninformed. My evidence is your statements. My opinion is--- as I stated-- that expecting the entire world to be consulted on personnel decisions is unrealistic and short-sighted. My opinion is-- also stated-- that you have no ability to stand by your convictions and instead fall back on tired old "you disagree with me so you must be so and so". My opinion is that people who cant bother to back up their opinions are the actual trolls.

Posted by MVWSD teacher
a resident of another community
on Jul 23, 2008 at 9:09 am

ALL teacher/principal movement happens in the summer. This is the way it works in ALL districts. If a teacher or principal leaves mid-year something was really, really wrong. I don't feel parents should have input in the hiring or placement of the principals. The dynamics in education are often misinterpreted (innocently) by parents, therefore it would be irresponsible to involve them in the hiring process. This is why we have a school board.

Posted by Parent
a resident of Jackson Park
on Jul 23, 2008 at 9:37 am

Dear MVWSD Teacher:

You're right. Something is really wrong: principals come and go and are shifted around in this district all the time. The district is a ship adrift. There obviously IS something wrong with the hiring proces or the people that are hiring. Responsibility for hiring goes both ways, for successes and failures, no matter what the cause be.

In addition, as "resident" speaks to above, there should be a fair and equitable hiring process, maybe like the one you went through to get hired? You know, a job is posted internally and externally, applications are submitted, interviews take place by panels representing leaders, teachers, and parents. Then, the best candidate is hired based on input from all. This should apply to all positions. Public schools are part of our democratic institutions, not corporations to be run by slicked up superintendents spouting half-baked corporate jargon and philosophies.

If you don't feel parents should have input in everything that involves their children, then you shouldn't be teaching.

(Admittedly, I would like to see the candidate pool limited to Mountain View residents only, much as the way the City Council limits candidates, so as to create a real school community and get rid of all these leaches that come to our town to pass their time at the expense of our children.)

And if as you say, the "dynamics in education are often misinterpreted (innocently) by parents," I would say to you that most informed Californian's realize that education in this state is at nearly rock bottom. People are sick of it and of establishment responses such as yours. If you don't believe me then explain the number of private schools popping up in the area and declining enrollment.

Posted by Ned
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 23, 2008 at 10:15 am

A little Max Weber needs to be invoked here. The cult of the personality, bureaucracy, political and insider appointments, an obscure hiring process, empty decrees such as "it makes sense" This is how fascism takes root.

Posted by Not All
a resident of another community
on Jul 25, 2008 at 2:01 pm

It's too generalized a statement to assert that all teachers "hang in their year after yaer" (or hang in there year after year). In MVW as in other districts, statistically most teachers stay, but many do leave. Principals are sometimes steered out in a way that teachers, under union protection right or wrong, could never be.

Posted by QueenB
a resident of North Whisman
on Aug 18, 2008 at 5:27 pm

Wow, what a vitriolic bunch of responses. Yeah, the school district is corrupt but so is everything in bureaucracy. There are lots of great teachers who give our children 110% even when they have to spend their own money doing it. The district mandates way too much time for what they deem "the basics" and way too little time for things that might actually be fun as well as educational. Wouldn't want our kids to have art, PE, and music for too long during the day. And we wonder why our kids are overweight, uncreative, and have never heard of Mozart.

Posted by Not All
a resident of another community
on Aug 24, 2008 at 9:50 pm

Maybe your kids are "overweight, uncreative" and have never heard of that music dude, but please don't generalize all kids. A teacher with a multiple subjects credential should be able to teach all subjects to a K-6 population--unless he or she didn't benefit from having that great, nostalgic education of art, PE, and music" back when the school system was perfect.

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